Country Sky Glow

You carry the beach in your way-too-short hairThat you shaved off last week cause you freaked and got scaredThat when it's longer, you remind me of her

So you offered it up with what passed for authoritySome strict sort of challenge you directed straight at meYou said, "Forget her, I don't care what you two were"

But it's a trick on your egoA two-step off tempoA solid gold braceletUnder lights, in a windowIn some shopping mall where I never go

You play coy and count tiles, drag your toes through the waterRaise your eyes, bite your lip, and my mind's in the gutterYou move at me and take my face in your hands

I feel light bulbs explode in a fire-cracked thunderSense the slow seismic shift of the sprawling cloud coverBut when we're finished I feel awful again

So it's the same sorry storyJust the cast changes nightlyAnd it skips like a record but it glows like a movieOr the country sky that I never see

The shake in your voice makes me feel empty and uglyAll scattered anger like a windstorm, howling violentlyAnd I wanna fade out and wake up somewhere elseWhere no face is familiar and I'm left by myselfTo keep plugging away on my own wasted timeTo eat badly and spend all my money and writeTo not feel too guilty to be tired at nightSince I'm not fixing things here, I'll leave them behindSo you make your decisionI'm through making mine

Now I walk where the street swallows light like it's waterI see the slant of your smirk on every kid at the cornerBut if you called, I'd never know what to saySo I just hope you never willThings are easier that way